In the News ... "Pastors combat family violence"

OA Photo by Mark Sterkel

• The Rev. Woodruff: Emotional abuse is also a serious problem

By Bob Campbell, Reporter
Odessa American

ODESSA, TEXAS - Unpleasant and embarrassing as it is, family violence is a woe that won’t be solved if it’s not comprehensively addressed, say four Odessa ministers.

The Revs. Mark Woodruff, Leland Maples, Andy Hill and Tim King say all violence between spouses is dangerous from the start and it only gets worse as it inexorably progresses.

Woodruff said he “not infrequently counsels a spouse who will come to me and say their spouse is violent ..."

“I sometimes say right out, ‘You ought to leave the guy,’ ” said the St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic Church pastor. “Unless he is under a psychologist’s care, it’s going to happen again and again ...

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